The Power of Saying No

Life has a reputation of throwing things at you, sometimes good and sometimes…bad. And in a world where logos like “Just Do It”, slogans like “Yes We Can”, and screams of YOLO are everywhere, you may be inclined to just simply say yes. But let’s be honest with ourselves, most of our mistakes in the past could have been avoided if we had taken sometime to think about it before jumping right in. And while you’re reading this, don’t you dare even think “Well, mistakes make you who you are, so I don’t regret making them.” That’s a fool’s excuse. Unless you really learn from a mistake, you should regret it and work to prevent it from happening again. And the first step to do so is to analyze the situation before saying yes or no. Despite the title, there are some things in life you just have to say yes to. But when you know you shouldn’t, and you know that if you do there will be heavy consequences, say NO. Let me give a scenario. Tomorrow, you have an important presentation at work/school, but your “cool and popular” friends invite you to go out with them. This fun night out will vary depending on your type of crowd, but bottom line, you’ll be tired, wasted, and cranky tomorrow if you go. And there’s that important presentation! You should probably say no right? Well a person who lacks the confidence and strength will fall prey to the peer pressure and possibly make the first bad decision of a series to come. Because you see, everything has a domino effect, and every decision you make sets off a chain of events. Once you start saying yes to everything, you accept things as they are. You lose your desire to resist and change things. You lose your confidence, your strength, and your power. Eventually you will just let life throw itself at you, and you will be tired, wasted, and cranky all the time.

Don’t let this happen. Take a stand for yourself and say no. Stop caring about whose feelings you’ll hurt or who’s going to think you’re a buzz kill. Don’t lose your resistance nor your persistence. It all starts with you taking control of your life and rejecting what you don’t want in it.